Xiaomi 14 Ultra Photography Kit review: it's a camera
An essential accessory for an exciting phone
I've had the Xiaomi 14 Ultra since the weekend, which is nowhere near enough time to review it fully even though the embargo just lifted. After all, this is the follow-up to my favourite phone of last year — I need to give it the appropriate amount of attention.
But what I can write about right now is the Photography Kit that came with the phone, because I can already tell it'll be a game-changer for anyone serious about smartphone photos. Or compact cameras in general.
The Xiaomi 14 Ultra Photography kit consists of a few parts: a leather phone case, a 67mm filter adapter ring, a couple of non-functional replacement rings for decoration, a wrist strap, and — most importantly — a camera grip.
The grip plugs into the bottom of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra over USB-C, and it has a female USB-C port of its own for passthrough charging. The grip also has a 1,500mAh battery that can top off the 14 Ultra's charge.
Up top there's a two-stage shutter button with a zoom lever surrounding it, as well as a dedicated video button and a programmable dial. The video button can be assigned to a wide range of other features like white balance settings or focus peaking, while the dial can adjust the main parameters you'd expect from a camera dial — even aperture control, since the 14 Ultra's main camera has a variable f/1.6-4 lens.
When the grip is attached and locked in place, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra really does just feel like an unusually svelte point-and-shoot camera. The bottom edge nestles in the palm of your hand, and the grip sticks out just far enough for your fingers to get a secure one-handed hold without being so bulky that you can't stuff it in your pocket. The grip is about as thick as an entire Sony RX100 compact camera while occupying less than a third of the 14 Ultra's length.
The shutter button is excellent. You can half-press it to trigger autofocus just as you would on a regular camera, which brings up phase-detection points on the viewfinder to highlight the subject. You can also take multiple photos with the same focus locked in by not releasing the half-press, which is very useful for photos of people in particular. (Think of the sporadic shutter sounds you hear when someone’s having their portrait taken in a studio; that's what that photographer is doing.) Finally, the shutter button serves as a handy way to launch directly into the camera app even when the phone is locked.
The zoom lever can be set to hop between the 14 Ultra’s four focal lengths as well as the “native” 2x crop, or you can use it in a smoother power-zoom style that gives you more framing flexibility. I prefer to avoid digital zoom so I’ve mostly been using the former mode, but the latter will feel familiar to anyone who’s used a compact digital camera.
Xiaomi released a similar Photography Kit for last year's 13 Ultra, but the 14 Ultra version improves on that in a few key ways. The 13 Ultra model was entirely wireless, relying on a Bluetooth connection and a small 330mAh battery that you had to charge separately. By switching to USB-C, the 14 Ultra kit has a more reliable and responsive connection. It can also be charged at the same time as the phone, or even by the phone if it runs out of power. Conversely, the larger internal battery can charge the phone in the opposite direction, making a meaningful difference to its endurance on days of heavy shooting.
As I said, I haven't had enough time with the Xiaomi 14 Ultra to properly assess its imaging capability. (I will say that my early impressions are positive.) But the Photography Kit is clearly an awesome accessory that any prospective 14 Ultra buyers should consider an essential purchase. Xiaomi phones already feel more like cameras than any others; with the Photography Kit, the 14 Ultra undeniably is a camera.
The combination of comfortable hardware and Leica-powered software is incredibly potent. I can't think of a compact camera in the world that I'd rather use for general photography.